Babylon 5 benefited considerably from having former Tangerine Dream member Christopher Franke, widely regarded as the band's most talented member, as its composer. The result is one of the most epic scores ever featured in a television series.
Main themes:
- The first season theme
is cautious yet overall hopeful in mood, beautifully reflecting the titular space station's mission statement: to act as a place where humans and aliens can work out their differences peacefully in an often dangerous universe and prevent another interstellar conflict like the Earth-Minbari War. - The second season theme retains the hopefulness of the first, but takes on a dark undertone, reflecting the coming of the Shadows and the simmering hostilities between the various races about to boil over into the very war that the station's crew fought to prevent. The extended remix, "The Geometry of Shadows", further elaborates on this notion and acts a perfect accompaniment to the rebirth of an ancient evil against the backdrop of a galaxy in crisis.
- By the third season, the situation has changed drastically for everyone involved. Having failed in its original goal to prevent another war, the station now serves as galaxy's only hope against the juggernaut of death known as the Shadows, a situation illustrated perfectly by the Season 3 theme's darker tone. Its extended remix "Requiem for the Line", part of the "Geometry of Shadows" suite, serves as a perfect accompaniment to the whole scenario of a universe facing uncertain doom.
- The fourth season theme carries a feeling of building up to something epic, as the various conflicts of the series prepare to converge into a final, decisive event. The various characters' summaries of the year's events serve to further convince the viewer that something big is about to happen.
- The fifth and final season's theme may be the most epic of them all, communicating to the audience that while the Shadows may be gone, the real adventure is yet to begin. The tune combined with the quotes outlining the past four seasons in 20 seconds is simply fantastic.
Everything else:
- The music that plays as Sheridan prepares to jump in "Z'ha'dum" features a slowly rising synth chord that climaxes as Sheridan makes his climactic leap of faith, making an already tense scene all the more nerve-wracking.
- The ending music from "Sleeping in Light" is one of the most heartbreaking pieces of music ever heard in a TV series, and serves as an emotional conclusion to this great and powerful series.
- The titular gospel song in "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place" serves as both a fitting and genuinely awesome accompaniment to Lord Refa getting his comeuppance at the hands of a mob of angry Narns.
- "Battle of the Line" is a tension-building battle theme like no other. It really puts into perspective just how one-sided the Earth-Minbari War is and how humanity is truly doomed.
- One of the scenes frequently mentioned as an Awesome Moment in the series is when Londo is watching, utterly repelled, as the Centauri fleet uses Mass Drivers to pound the Narn homeworld into the stone age. One of the reasons this scene is so poignant is because of the music — an almost-unrecognizable variation on "Battle of the Line".
- Londo seems to attract a lot of Awesome Music; in the In the Beginning prequel telemovie, when he narrates about the Earth-Minbari War, he is accompanied by some of the most tragically heroic bagpipe music you've ever, ever heard. But you still got to have the Horns of Heroism.
- The bar music in "The Face of the Enemy" playing when Sheridan is arrested thanks to a brainwashed Garibaldi perfectly captures the feel of being drugged and subjected to a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, while also making for an awesome alt-rock song out of context.
